Marx/Engels Collected Works

Marx/Engels Collected Works (also known as MECW) is the largest collection of English translations of the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It contains all works published by Marx and Engels in their lifetimes, and numerous previously unpublished manuscripts and letters. The Collected Works, which was translated by Richard Dixon and others, consists of 50 volumes. It was compiled and issued from 1975 to 2004 by Progress Publishers (1931, Moscow) in collaboration with Lawrence and Wishart (1936, London) and International Publishers (1924, New York City).

Contents

The Collected Works contain material written by Marx between 1835 and his death in 1883, and by Engels between 1838 and his death in 1895. Early volumes include juvenilia, such as correspondence between Marx and his father, Marx's poetry, and letters from Engels to his sister. The Collected Works also contain several major, well-known works by Marx and Engels, such as The Communist Manifesto (V. 6), The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (V. 11), and The Condition of the Working Class in England (V. 4). In addition, a large body of previously unpublished or untranslated material is collected, consisting of newspaper articles, letters, and other minor writings.

The series' plan is divided into three parts. Volumes 1-27 collect the political, philosophical, historical and journalistic writings of the authors, in chronological order. Volumes 28-37 specifically collect Marx's writings on political economy, including a large amount of draft material and manuscripts which culminated in the three volumes of Capital (V. 35-37). Finally, volumes 38-50 collect the letters and personal correspondence of the authors.[1]

Although most of MECW's volumes include material written by Marx and Engels (whether separately or as co-authors), a large minority of volumes are devoted to material written by only one author. Red check marks indicate the author's presence in a volume, while black X marks indicate that the author's work is absent. Although the volumes typically contain large varieties of material, only major selected items are listed below, for illustration.